10 free & fun ideas for blogging!

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Before we begin, I would just like to clarify that this site is only representing my ideas on the internet blogging arena, not the general public as a whole. It is loosely based on my experience on blogging since I started 2 ½ years ago and also reflects partially on my personality. I have seen many sites which offers this kind of material for an exorbitant amount of price, prices which I myself would not even think twice of paying. $100 for tips and advice on how to blog? I’d rather save that for a meal with my girlfriend. But I don’t have a girlfriend, so I’ll just save it for my future one. Assuming I do get lucky.
And if you were wondering, I’m not doing this for money (not that I think I don’t deserve any…) and I am not getting paid to do so, but think of it as more of an interest to help the new bloggers out there and to give them a rough idea on how to start. And also because I am a nobody without any successful credentials to back my portfolio.
Yes, I do know what it feels like to get left out in the dark. My parents once locked me out of the house when I was 5, but that’s a different story altogether.

Ever had the feeling that you sometimes feel that your blog posts are inadequate? Afraid to trace back your source of visitors’ lists, only to find out that you’ve had regular visits from an aunty in her 50’s whose only friend is her dog, and your blog represent her window to the outside world?
Well, with this guide, I hope you are able to bring joy to THAT particular aunty by improving on your blogging skills! Best of all, it’s totally free!

Now just to take note: This article is mainly directed at new bloggers and not for experienced ones.
In any event should you feel that I need to suffer a humiliating laugh from you, please feel free to do so.
Oh wait, I just realized that I can’t hear you from here.
So sit back, tear open a bag of chips, and get ready to laugh with me, or at me. One way or the other, it doesn’t matter. As long as I see that little grin on your face.


1. Discover the reason!

First of all, I would like you to ask yourself this question. Why do I blog? And it wouldn’t come to me as a surprise should some of you do not have a proper answer to that question. Don’t worry, for those of you that do not have a reason on why you blog, it does not mean you have allowed yourself to be caught in a crossfire between wealth and fame.

So why do we blog anyway? There are many reasons for someone to blog, and it could vary from money, fame, venting anger, frustration, passion or even for fun. Or it can be combinations of the factors which I’ve just mentioned. Yes, that’s money, fame, etc. Come on. Don’t get sleepy already, for we’ve only just begun.
Whichever category you fall into, just be sure of something. Be it to get traffic to your blog so that you can earn that extra few bucks from advertisement or whatsoever, you are blogging out of your own free will! It should be something you do because you enjoy doing it, not for anyone’s sake.

I am very sure that if I were to force someone to do something against their own will, they would do it rather pathetically. Can’t imagine? Well picture this. I am forcing a guy to pee in public into a little bottle. Now naturally, he would refuse to do so. He would be trying his best to hide his genitals from the public’s view at the same time peeing all over the place except into the bottle.
Yes, I am well aware that that was a crude example. But it should be suffice to get the information across to you.


2. I am who I am. And I am not your puppy.

What defines you as a person, or rather, who you ARE, also plays an important role in defining whether or not your post will be interesting. The keyword that I am looking for here is PERSONALITY. Honestly speaking, with minimal or no personality at all, not only will you not prosper in the internet blogging arena, you will also risk the chance of not prospering in life as well!

How do people and blogging icons like Kenny Sia from Sarawak and XiaXue from Singapore become celebrities in their own ways as they are today? Simple. These people have strong personalities! They are very interesting and unique in their own ways, and it goes the same for each and everyone of us. I am not you and I don’t try to be you because it just wouldn’t be right. It is almost as though I am trying to wear a bra, when in actual reality I don’t have boobs.

Not only are they not afraid to voice out their opinions (and get paid an absurd amount for it), they do it with such flair and caliber that it makes everyone else look like primary school kids. Same goes for you. If you believe in something or whatsoever, don’t ever be shy to voice it out or stand firm for it. Be proud of who you are! Remember, the crowd loves people with strong personality!
Of course, not forgetting that the main idea is to capture the hearts of your readers. However, don’t just do that, but do it with flair and charisma!


3. You there. Make me laugh. Now.

HUMOR. Yes, if you can relate to cases where your friends tend to tell you to wipe off that ever-goofy looking smile on your face, then this word should be your closest ally. Almost nobody would disagree with me if I were to come up with a generalized statement: “Everybody loves a good laugh, sometimes.” Note that I used the word ALMOST. I am not living under a nutshell and I do realize that there are some very serious nutcases out there. For example, when you crack a joke, these individuals would just give you a blank stare as though as you’ve just told them you’ve been sleeping with their girlfriend for the past 3 months, which of course, you didn’t.
You didn’t, right?

I sincerely pity these people. Yes, I do agree that it is important to take things seriously and professionally when the time calls for it, but being a wooden doll all the time? Where’s the fun in that? A successful individual is one that is able to take on an incoming issue or problem, crack their skulls over the solution and yet at the end of the day, is able to see the humor behind the problem and laugh at it. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not asking you to treat everything as a joke. If you were to do so, don’t blame me for loosing your job just because you laughed at your boss for having a bald patch on his forehead.

Injecting humor into your posts is something that I can only tell you about, but in order to do so, you’ll have to try and experience it out yourself. Reading funny articles and blogsites should give you a vague but rough idea on how to start. You can’t expect to produce 5-star quality reading material by just me telling you how to do so (but if you do, give me a call and I’ll sign you on as my writer!). You’ll only get better as you go along while keeping up with the attempts, without giving up and quitting at the first hurdle you come across.

So how do you inject humor, creativity and flair into your post, all at the same time? Well, truth be told…I don’t really know how to explain it to you myself, and anybody who tells you they can are probably trying to poop all over your face. Again, this is something which you have to develop and experience as you go along. But what I can help you out is by telling you that, “The funnier the joke, the more you can get away with it.” If you should ever decide to include jokes into your post, be sure to regulate it at a level where it is not left hanging in mid-air, for it will not only put you in a silly position, it might even compromise your chance of getting a girlfriend/boyfriend, assuming you don’t already have one. And if you already do, you might even risk losing him/her. Jokes that come off short of that standard might also cause you to loose respect in the eyes of everyone except your best friend, who, as you know, lost respect for you a long time ago.


4. Super size me!

Blowing things out of proportion sometimes and making them look way more than what they actually are can be fun, provided it doesn’t get out of hand. Exaggerating is NOT a requirement in blogging, rather think of it as something that add colors to our lives. The trick here is to actually exaggerate something, but only up to a limit where you think your readers can accept. They’re going to read what you write, like you for doing it, and at the same time know that you’re writing bullshit of a certain degree. This does not mean you have to create totally absurd and fictional stories, stories that YOU yourself would find it hard to believe, such as traveling the world in a span of 1 week and picking up 30 wives from 30 different countries, all these while going around on foot.

A certain level of creativity would definitely be a big boost here. You could turn what was previously dull, into a totally different and exciting story altogether.
Remember: Be funny, but don’t be silly. Be lame, but don’t be boring. Be a joker, but don’t be the joke.


5. Sex sells, unfortunately.

There is not a doubt in the world that a pretty face would in fact, naturally drive traffic to your blog, regardless of what nonsense you write about, be it about the way you fold your clothes or stuff that you do in your toilet. However, I am not interested in discussing about what you do in your toilet here.
We’ll save that for later, maybe over my private email.

Now, I’ve seen some girls who update their blog with posts that are so unfitting and incomprehensible that even kids at the age of 8 are able to produce a far better one, only to see them get away with it by throwing thousands and thousands of pictures of themselves (in whatever ways they think they look best) on their blog, and to see them garner an amazingly high amount of daily visitors. If I ever do give you the impression that I’m whining and jealous of this matter, I certainly am. However, don’t get me wrong here. I’m not a sexist, and there’s nothing more I love doing than having a fun chat with a pretty girl.

Let’s face it; people’s sexual drive can sometimes be manipulated in order to achieve personal goals. Things like putting up pictures of sexy women on their blogsites are only too common. Sexy men? Now that’s a sight for sore eyes. Can you imagine yourself reading a post on some current issues while pictures of semi-naked men clad in only their undergarments fill the void of the background? I certainly can’t.
If possible, try not to include pictures that degrade men or women. It might backfire on you and eventually reflect on your true personality. You are better than that, right?


6. Did you pass Quality Control?

One way to ensure your visitors keep coming back for more is to maintain quality. Note that the keyword that I emphasize upon here is QUALITY, not QUANTITY. What I mean by quality here is the grade of the content. I wouldn’t mind coming back every once in a while and checking on a particular website to see if it has been updated with really good reading materials. How hard can it be? After all, it’s just a click of a mouse away. I don’t want to waste my time on blogs whose author only post for the sake of posting.
Yes, don’t be alarmed if you’ve never seen this happening before. There are, and always will be individuals out there in the vast open sea of the internet blogging arena who only writes for the sake of writing. When I say this, I am actually referring to those individuals whom have already run dry of materials to post about, but in a last ditch attempt to gain their readers’ attention; they update their sites with really silly stuff. Stuff that I believe should be deemed as ‘unnecessary’.

“I came up with an idea for my new house design today. It was
something really simple, but I really liked it and I will be showing
it to my friends tomorrow! Well, it’s getting late and I’m going to bed!”

The above was an example of how some people would just update just for the QUANTITY sake. Frankly speaking, I do get turned off and tend not to come back to these kind of blogsites. And I’m sure there are many more out there like me.
Always try to make your story as interesting as possible. Think of it as cooking a pot of noodles. Now make a comparison on if I should cook a pot of plain noodles, with another pot of plain noodles cooked by Michael.
Obviously mine would taste better. Who the hell is Michael anyway!?


7. Love at first sight!

First impression is rather an important factor as well, but not necessarily the biggest one. For some, they’ve actually taken the trouble to cook up a really kick-ass design template for their blogs, which in my opinion, really pays off. Whether or not they are able to come up with quality contents is a different matter altogether.

Nobody is really interested in the boring, minor details on what you do everyday in your life. We all have our own lives too, so why should I bother so much with what you do? Don't bore your readers to death with stuff like these. Well, if you really must tell, I reckon a tip of the iceberg would be suffice to keep me updated with your life, but yet there are some people who manages to go overboard, so much so by telling the whole world how she plucks out the hair that are on her legs (ouch!) or how he cleans his toilet. Yes, I know that I seem to have a rather liking for toilets today, but let’s not dwell into that. Then again, this is a different situation altogether if you were being stalked.

Try to choose interesting and fun topics to write about, those kind that would capture the attention of your readers with its own unique X-Factor.


8. Picture me picturing you.

Adding some colors into your post would really make a whole lot of different in deciding if someone would actually give that ‘extra attention span’ to read what you actually write. What better way to do so than to add attractive and colorful pictures alongside your scribblings? I am almost positively sure that someone would look at the picture and go, “Hey, this looks interesting! I wonder what this guy has to say about it…” and so forth.
But do be careful here though. If done in a wrong way where your pictures are too overly attractive and interesting, people might actually come to a point where they don’t bother what you write about and just scroll through all your pictures. Yes, this happens sometimes and you would just be wasting your effort on the writings.

On the other hand, if you were to write a whole bunch of words (like the essays we used to write in high school, or just me…in that case) without pictures, people do tend to get turned off sometimes and just skip it altogether and head someplace else.
However, some people do have that ‘cutting edge’ ability where they can somehow ‘glue’ their readers to their writings. One such example would be politics, but you have to first have that interested before even thinking of venturing in that sector.
Practice and try to strike a balance between content and pictures. It does make a difference.

9. Insulting myself.

Sometimes it can be rather peculiar to see someone insulting himself. If you want to use this method, be sure to use it in an intelligent way. Insulting yourself in a childish manner would once again, leave you in a puddle of your own droppings. Think of it this way; it is alright for you to insult yourself, but it is not alright for others to insult you! Without doubt, it will add the ‘humble’ factor to your personality checklist as well.

Moving along, we all know that deep down beneath; there resides a little sarcasm inside every one of us. Do be clear that sarcasm, despite many suggestions, is NOT a way of life! You would want to include witty and fun sarcastic remarks into your writings, but not those kinds that would leave your recipient fuming with anger and rage. It is possible to directly insult someone you hate, leaving them angry for a while, but only for them to laugh at it later because they know you are only joking. If successful in pulling sarcasm off, not only will it make you look suave, people would perceive you to be an individual with a charming personality as well. In extreme cases, people might even bow down in front of you and offer you gifts in exchange for some sarcastic remarks to be thrown at them.


10. Religion vs Partners

This is a highly debatable and subjective topic, one which I cannot stop you from writing about even if I wanted to. And there would just be so many reasons to shoot me down if I were to tell you that you are wrong, for I am not necessarily right myself. It really is up to you, but I see no point in posting about the stuff you do with your girlfriend(s), assuming you have an insatiable sexual desire, or your boyfriend(s) as well, for that matter.
What you do with your partners should remain behind closed doors for nobody really wants to know about it, unless you have the utmost evil intention of making your friends jealous over what they do not have. Evil, be gone!

The same could be said over religion. If I wanted to know more about my religion, I would have just read the bible instead. And it wouldn’t be nice to bombard someone with sensitive religious topic as well, assuming that some people ARE in fact, very closed minded. Then again, it could also be argued that religion should be shared and some people are just merely stating their feelings and opinions, for it is their own personal blog anyway.
This argument could go on forever, only for you to pause and remember the words 'highly debatable' and 'personal blog' before continuing. In the end, you should write whatever you are pleased with, as mentioned in point 1 – “Do it with your own free will!”.



CONCLUSION

So there you have it! 10 free and fun blogging ideas to help you out should you decide to embark on a mini adventure towards the wonderful world of blogging. And before you start spamming or flamming me, please do remember that these ideas are only a part of my opinion and does not represent the true guideline or blogging in general (if any).

That said, I will be looking forward to reading YOUR blogs if you should deem it as suitable for me to do so. Please feel free to post up the link of your blog and I shall link it at the sidebar so that the rest of the world can share your adventures as well!

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Funbloggingideas.blogspot.com is a copyright of DanielKhoo, dated 11/12/2007.